Mounting a Diamond Wheel Dresser *PICS*
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>I recently acquired a new slow speed bench grinder (with forked tail) from Woodcraft. It was on sale, including two cool running 8" x 1" white wheels, for about $80. Since then, I've been busy building and installing accessories to adapt it for sharpening multifarious hand tools and turning tools.
One item on the agenda was to make an attachment for the Veritas Grinder Tool Rest, so I could quickly and accurately move it from one wheel to the other. I needed that to support the diamond wheel dresser.
One of these days, I'll try to get around to posting pics and explaining that phase of the project, but it might show up on the Turning forum, because the impetus was to make a cheap imitation of the Wolverine for grinding gouges.
This post is to show how I built and mounted a diamond wheel dresser for maintaining wheel flatness and roundness. I used a 3/4 caret single point diamond dresser from Enco. Price was about $21. The diamond is mounted in the end of a 1/2" diameter round steel rod, about 7" long, with a circular slot cut all the way round about an inch from the back end. The problem is that this tooling was designed to be mounted in some sort of tool holder, that I suppose every real machinist would already have, but I don't. A holder didn't come with the Veritas Tool Rest or the Grinder itself, so I had to come up with a way to support it, move the diamond evenly across the face of the stone, and advance it a smidgen at a time. After several false starts, I finally came up with this, which relies on the Veritas Tool Rest.
The red rubber cap is to protect the diamond when it is not in use. I just moved it to the other end so I wouldn't lose it.
Designing an advancing mechanism that could be kludged together using methods, materials and tools one might expect to find in an amateur woodshop was the first priority. What I finally came up with uses a short length of 1/4" threaded rod, two nuts, a fender washer and a threaded insert.
Everything else ws just simple woodworking. Using a block of hard maple about the size of the tool rest table and an inch thick, I drilled a 1/2" diameter hole to allow the dresser to slide through. It needs to be a slip fit, without binding, but with minimal lateral play. At the appropriate distance from this hole, I drilled another hole to accept the threaded insert. It's location depends on the size of the threaded rod, the diameter of the washer, diameter of the dresser and the depth of the slot. If you get it wrong on the first try, just turn the block over or turn it around and drill another hole. I installed the insert by chucking the adjuster mechanism in a brace and driving it in, and then backing out the adjuster. I turned a handle from a scrap of walnut and glued the long end of the threaded rod into a hole in its end. Finally, I cut another piece of wood to fit the slot in the tool rest table and glued it to the bottom of the jig. A shoulder plane trimmed it for a slip fit. Here are the parts, before assembly. The threaded insert has already been installed. The one lying on the bench is a spare, for illustration.
My old grinder burnt down, but the case and bearings are still useful, so I am in the process of gutting it, hooking it up to a motor mounted under the bench, and adapting it to run backwards for buffing wheels for the carving tools. I'll make another pair of mounting brackets so I can move the tool rests to that station when needed.